To the Editor:

As our beautiful fall season comes to an end with falling leaves, owners, particularly those with wooded and/or larger properties, are urged to place their leaves in their wooded areas rather than putting them out on streets and roadways for collection. This enriches the soil and is an easy way of making fallen leaves a resource lessening the currently expensive, energy and labor intensive municipal collection of leaves. The current method is not only a financial and environmental/sustainability liability, it is also a public safety hazard for children and motorists who must drive around large piles of leaves including ones on narrow and/or hilly roads where visibility makes accidents more probable.

For smaller lots, a small corner area can usually be found to compost leaves. These decomposed leaves can be used in winter to protect plants and trees and for spring gardening as a soil conditioner. Most leaves can also be shredded finely and left on grassy areas.

For those who cannot or do not want to do either, FREE municipal biodegradable paper bags (not plastic) can be obtained from the Princeton Public Works Department (609) 688-2566) for public safety and as a means of avoiding polluting our water supplies when leaves from piles find their way to drains adding a heavy organic waste load.

It’s time for Princeton to require more enlightened handling of collection of leaves. Others have done so. For example, nearby Bridgewater Township for several years has banned the collection of loose leaves.

Thanks to the Princeton Environmental Commission’s education on this issue for several years, more people have become aware of the necessity of handling disposal of leaves in a more sustainable way. Unfortunately, there are too many, especially those with wooded and/or large lots, who, year after year, still put their huge piles of leaves out for street collection. If landscapers are used, it is the responsibility of the property owner to direct them to more sustainable methods. Eventually, this will need to be required officially.

Let’s make 2014 the last year that the current unsustainable ways are allowed. Princeton can do better and be a model to others.

Grace Sinden

Ridgeview Circle